>>...Upon return to the head office, the discussion with the 'powers that be' revolved around what I could have done differently that would have resulted in getting my craft on the ground sooner than the 18 minutes that it took me from FL330.<<
That is certainly the emphasis of training scenarios in America in the wake of SR111 and the earlier FedEx 1406 fire at Newburgh, NY (see:
http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/1998/AAR9803.pdf ).
>>Firewall, it doesn't matter whether you're flying an ETOPS a/c or not, if you have a serious no s&*t fire in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, or the Atlantic, or the Pacific, you're landing on the water (one way or another) whether you like it or not.<<
Yep, it is a different situation if you're at 30W. Then maybe those James Michener thirty minute fire of unknown origin checklists that we've done in the sim for so many years would be appropriate.
Here's an Indian news report indicating possible evidence that the fire was real:
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Sparks on Emirates plane leads to panic
Monday, 29 September , 2003, 11:44
Chennai: An Emirates Airways airbus with 398 passengers and 16 member crew from Dubai to Singapore made an emergency landing here this morning, when pilots noticed sparks in the cargo area.
The flight made a safe landing at the Meenambakkam airport and fire personnel with the help from CISF and other airport officials, doused the sparks. However, there was no damage to the aircraft.
Only three leather bags in the cargo section were reduced to ashes as a result of the incident, airport sources said.
The flight has now been grounded and all the passengers have been accommodated in various nearby hotels and at the airport.
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13269077